Voice of the Campus: Big bad job world
Lenny Ocasio
Issue date: 4/28/09 Section: Opinion
As I am preparing to graduate, I knew that finding a job now would be difficult. Actually, I knew it would be almost impossible. One of my obstacles is the fact that I still have no idea what I want to do after I graduate. I know there are those people who would scoff at that and ask what the point of an education is, if not to find some direction in life. The thing is that I, like many other college students, know that an education is necessary, but I haven't given much thought as to what I want from my education. I have been an English major for four years and have never thought about changing to another major. I've thought about becoming a double major, but it seemed as if it would take up too much of my time. Now I feel like I should have taken the time to do this.
The economy is tough. People are losing jobs faster than the stock market is recovering. There aren't enough jobs to satisfy the demand for them. All around me I hear about people looking for work, and being told that it's better to stay in school. There's no reason to start working in this economy. That's all well and good for those people who can afford not to work while in school, but what about those who pay for their education themselves, or who are about to graduate? What can be done for them?
Looking at entry-level jobs, I realized that there's very little I'm qualified to do. Not only in terms of experience, but also in the technical knowledge required for a position. If I wanted to continue working for a newspaper or another form of media, I would need to be familiar with the tools of the trade, such as computer software that I barely know about.
There aren't any classes offered here at NEIU that would actually teach me how to use such software. If it weren't for the fact that I work at a newspaper and have expressed an interest in the computer software we use here, I would not even know the names of the software that the industry uses. The same goes for many other types of jobs. Looking for a job as a secretary would require knowledge of Microsoft Office tools that are not used very often by college students.
The economy is tough. People are losing jobs faster than the stock market is recovering. There aren't enough jobs to satisfy the demand for them. All around me I hear about people looking for work, and being told that it's better to stay in school. There's no reason to start working in this economy. That's all well and good for those people who can afford not to work while in school, but what about those who pay for their education themselves, or who are about to graduate? What can be done for them?
Looking at entry-level jobs, I realized that there's very little I'm qualified to do. Not only in terms of experience, but also in the technical knowledge required for a position. If I wanted to continue working for a newspaper or another form of media, I would need to be familiar with the tools of the trade, such as computer software that I barely know about.
There aren't any classes offered here at NEIU that would actually teach me how to use such software. If it weren't for the fact that I work at a newspaper and have expressed an interest in the computer software we use here, I would not even know the names of the software that the industry uses. The same goes for many other types of jobs. Looking for a job as a secretary would require knowledge of Microsoft Office tools that are not used very often by college students.
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